To:S. I. GUSEV

To Gusev from Lenin

Published:First published in 1925.

      Sent from Geneva to St. Petersburg.

      Printed from the original.Source:Lenin
	  Collected Works,

      Progress Publishers,1974,

      Moscow,Volume 34,

      pages304-306.Translated:Clemens DuttTranscription\Markup:D. MorosPublic Domain:Lenin Internet Archive

      (2005).You may freely copy, distribute,
	display and perform this work; as well as make derivative and
	commercial works. Please credit “Marxists Internet
	Archive” as your source.•README

March 16, 1905

Dearfriend,

Ihave just learnt that, at the request of the Bund, the conference here ofeighteenSocial-Democratic and otherrevolutionaryparties
(including the Socialist-Revolutionary Party and the P.P.S.) has been postponed
to the beginning of April. It is extremely important for us to settle jointly
with Rakhmetov a number of fundamental questions concerning our participation
in this conference (its aim is to reach agreement on an
uprising).Iskrais carrying on a most vile intrigue. If Rakhmetov has
not left yet, make every effort to see that he goes immediately, and let me know
at once without fail exactly what you know about the time of his departure.

Weare pretty worried here about the congress. It’s all very well for you, Igor
and Lyadov to write about the Old Man being nervy. Who wouldn’t be nervy
when we are surrounded here by enemies who take advantage of every item of news
and who get their news more quickly than we do. Really, this is unpardonable on
the part of the Bureau. As regards the East, for example, all we know is that
Zemlyachka is touring the Urals and that Lyadov visited Saratov. The reply
from the latter place is vague, nothing definite. We do not know what
arrangements have been made for publishing leaflets over the signature of the
“Committees of the Eastern District”. It is a disgrace and a scandal! Recently the Socialist-Revolutionaries showed us one such leaflet, a stupid
one, against Gapon! Obviously, this is a C.C. intrigue, but surely two members
of the Bureau whovisited the East; could have learnt something and written us about it in good
time, so as not to put us in an idiotic position in face of the enemy!
Don’t they feel ashamed at puttingVperyodin such an extremely
awkward position? And more than awkward, becauseIskrabrazenly takes
advantage of everything. InIskraNo. 89 the Council excommunicates
everyone who goes to the congress. The votes are again falsified there. They
count 75 votes as of January 1, 1905 (33x2=66+9 from the C.C., Central
Organ and Council). They have invented the Kazan and Kuban committees, which
were never endorsed, and lie about the Polesye and North-Western committees
having been endorsed as of January 1, 1905. Actually, they were not endorsed
until April 1, 1905. We exposed this lie inVperyodNo. 10.[1]

Hereis something that should be borne in mind: for the congress to be lawful
fromIskra’spoint of view, there must benineteencommittees attending it. By our reckoning, this is wrong. But if there were 28
(apart from the League) fully qualified organisations inRussiaas of
January 1, 1905, then the participation of14–15at the congress is
extremely desirable,almost essential. Meanwhile, we have 13—1
(Ekaterinoslav)+2 (Voronezh and Tula)==14, and that only by counting Tiflis, a
doubtful. Of course, the congress is necessary all the same, if only of a dozen
committees, and the sooner the better. Any kind of congress, so long us it is a
congress. But why is there no news of the Bureau having visited asingleneutral or Menshevik committee? Was it not decided that the
Bureau would invite and visit all of them? Why hasn’t Lyadov visited the
Kuban Committee? Why, in travelling through, did he not invite to the congress
the Don, Kharkov, Gornozavodsky and Kiev committees? And the various groups in
these towns? An excellent means of stirring the workers is to invite them to the
congressthemselves. Why isn’t this being done? It would really
have enormous significance! Why isn’t there a scrap of news about Kursk,
the Polesye Committee and others? We shall do everything we can from here, but
notmuch can be done from here. There are slight chances of making contact with
Kazan, Siberia, Kursk, Polesye, and Saratov, but all this is problematical. And
yet, if all these live, plus the Urals, were at the congress, then its full lawfulness, even according toIskra’sreckoning, would be
beyond doubt. Do write.

Yours,Lenin

[1]See“Whom Are They Trying to Fool?” (present edition. Vol. 8).—Ed.